Monday, July 28, 2008

A cracking display of football at Todoroki on Saturday night, with both teams justifying their status as serious title contenders. Frontale again came back from a goal down and, although both sides had chances to win it, a draw was probably the right result.

Magnum marked his first return to Todoroki, since transferring to Nagoya in the winter, with a stunning shot to give the visitors an early lead. Not only did this come against the run of play, but it was also largely brought about by an untimely recurrence of Shuhei Terada's hamstring injury.

Terada, who was starting his first game after over a month on the physio's couch, looked a safe bet to clear a long ball that was flicked on by Keiji Tamada in the middle of the field. However, the stalwart defender was obviously in trouble as he not only lost a mile of ground, but also failed to make any attempt at a block as Magnum raced on to the ball and struck a fierce drive into the back of the net from 20 yards.

The Brazilian's goal celebration was respectfully subdued, as Terada had to be helped from the pitch, clearly in some distress. It is still unclear how serious the big veteran's injury is, but let's just hope it's nothing career-threatening.

The game now settled into a pattern with Frontale controlling much of the play and Nagoya breaking dangerously on the counter. The rest of the first half saw the away team defending their lead staunchly and soaking up a great deal of pressure. Still, they almost doubled their lead when Johnsen's stinging shot rifled against the foot of the post and away to safety.

In the second half Frontale began to dominate possession far more effectively. They were finding more dangerous positions in attack and giving away much less in defence. Their first real opening came when Vitor Junior found room in the box and saw his lobbed shot-cum-cross rebound off the inside of the far post, past the waiting Juninho and eventually away by a relieved defender.

Nagoya were now starting to rock and the Todoroki crowd, continuing to earn their reputation as "12th player", piled on the pressure by raising the volume a few decibels. Within minutes Vitor Junior had levelled things up, pouncing on a blocked shot from Chong Tese and firing into an untended net.

At this stage, it looked like the game could only go one way, and Seigo Narazaki was forced to be at his very best in the Nagoya goal to keep out a couple of fine efforts from Juninho. However, once things were back on an even footing Nagoya, obviously not content to play for the draw, began to show that they're not just a counter-attacking outfit.

With the visitors now at their most attacking, Frontale did well to keep them at bay. The biggest scare came late on when Eiji Kawashima failed to claim a cross and only a last-ditch, goal-line block from Tomonobu Yokoyama, who was outstanding all game (after coming on for the ill-starred Terada), prevented the visitors from stealing all 3 points.

Overall, this is the best Kawasaki Frontale have been playing all season. Defensively the team is far less error-prone, Juninho seems a lot more confident as a provider rather than just an out-an-out goal scorer, and Vitor Junior (although this might be a bit premature) is an absolute revelation. Here's hoping they can maintain this kind of form when they return to action in a couple of weeks.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Hiroyuki Taniguchi celebrated his selection for the Olympic squad with 2 late goals to secure victory over Shimizu S-Pulse on Thursday night. This result catapults Frontale up to 6th place, just 6 points behind league leaders Urawa Reds whom they visit on Monday.

The home team struggled to make much impression on the S-Pulse defence in the first half and, despite having the better of the play, found themselves a goal down at the interval.

In the second half Takahata shuffled his pack to focus on all-out attack, and Frontale looked a much more dangerous prospect. This did leave things open at the back and there were good chances for S-Pulse to increase their lead before Taniguchi eventually evened things up.

The equaliser was a touch scrappy - a Juninho cross somewhat fortuitously deflected past the last defender and keeper by Kurotsu, leaving Taniguchi with the simplest of tap-ins. The winner, on the other hand, followed some great play from Juninho, threading a delicious ball through to Yamagishi whose fierce cross the keeper could only block into the path of the onrushing Taniguchi.

The difficulty Frontale face now is trying to string a few wins together. What better way to start than with revenge against Urawa on Monday!

TANIGUCHI EQUALISER

TANIGUCHI WINNER

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Frontale midfielder Hiroyuki Taniguchi has been named among the 18 players who will represent Japan at the Beijing Olympics in August.

His inclusion may come as a surprise to some, especially with the likes of Celtic's Koki Mizuno and Urawa's Tsukasa Umesaki being left out of the side. However, coach Yasuharu Sorimachi has emphasised the importance of tenacity and undying commitment in his young Olympians - and in these areas there is no questioning Taniguchi's prowess.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Sunday night saw Kawasaki Frontale notch up an important, if somewhat fortunate, 3 points. Off the back of three straight league defeats the boys in blue desperately needed a win under their belts if they were to retain even the faintest hopes of a title challenge. And a win is what they got.

The home team started the match brightly with decent chances falling to Ganaha and Murakami. This early pressure was rewarded when the Marinos keeper could only parry a stinging Juninho shot and Ganaha was on hand to bundle the ball into the back of the net.

However, with a lead to defend Frontale began to lose the flow and tempo with which they had started. Possession was lost far too cheaply allowing the visitors to claw their way back into the game.

The balance slowly shifted in Yokohama's favour and they were by far the more dangerous side for the rest of the half. The warning signs were there when a long-range effort from Ryuji Kawai clipped Eiji Kawashima's bar. Then just before half time a deadly Koji Yamase free kick from the edge of the box evened things up.

The second half saw no clear-cut chances from either side. Juninho had a couple of tame efforts and the Marinos failed to get anyone on the end of a dangerous ball that flashed across the 6-yard box. But as time ticked on a draw seemed fairly inevitable.

Then in the dying minutes of the game, the referee deemed Kawai's seemingly innocuous challenge on Juninho worthy of a second yellow card and promptly gave him his marching orders. A man up, but with only minutes left on the clock, Frontale piled on the pressure and from a corner Juninho managed to force in the winner.

Perhaps a draw would have been the fair result, but I think Frontale were due a bit of luck. Hopefully, this result will steel them for the tough trip to Osaka at the weekend. While it's great to have Ganaha back in the side keeping Chong Tese and Juninho on their toes, if they want to be competing with the likes of Gamba they're going to need a lot of work on retaining possession.